12 Flights 7 Weeks: Reflection

My trip last fall was quite hard core in my opinion. As it is with most things in retrospect it was a lot more fun then living through it. Not that the whole trip was shit but there were a few spots where I was just counting down till the next place and praying like hell that I had the strength to make it through. Mainly Morocco.

Although I wouldn't trade Morocco for the world. It was a learning experience and it was crazy and amazing and...... the toughest experience of my life. It really redefined how I saw myself. I put up with some crap there and not just the whole being sick. I got stared out and followed and talked to and shouted at and creeped on so hard core. But I made it through. I perfected my bitch face. I developed a killer sense of direction. I also saw some of the most amazing things in my life. There were times when it was so much fun. I hiked the atlas mountains. Made friends in the Sahara dessert for crying out loud! It was amazing. But the amazingness equals the not so amazing parts. Being sick sucked so much. Sometimes the things my mum says off offhandedly makes me realize she was really worried for me and might never forgive me for not coming home. She's convinced I was on the verge of death... I'm convinced that I just couldn't keep anything down. I just lost a lot of weight... there are worse things in life. In short Morocco was so far out of my comfort zone that it was just as deep in my comfort zone. You know that whole as far out as it is is how close it is... I know not making much sense but what I really learned was that the more you let just roll off your back the wider your comfort zone gets. 

I learned a lot about traveling with friends. I loved hanging out with Missy and Kelly. I loved the dynamic of having people around me. But I also learned that being on my own is just as easy. Because I had to leave them and it wasn't so much sad as it was a change. We had been together for only a few days and then we parted. It was a nice reinforcement that I don't always have to surround myself with people to be happy. I can be just as happy with friends as I am on my own. Visiting Ana and Lenka further this alone/with friends deal because when I was with them it was a different dynamic as well because I lived life more as a local then a tourist. At the end of it all regardless of if I have friends with me or not I know I can have fun and do epic things.

I was so lucky to get to go to so many new places and it's always fun to tick off new countries from the map. It's a thrill I will never get tired of. It was nice to see that traveling is a skill I will never lose regardless of how far apart my trips are. My thirst for new things will never be quenched and I think I like that idea. I don't want to become complaicent and satisfied with where I am in life. I always want there to be something new to strive for. 

I'm so thankful I had this trip it was my longest solo endeavor to date and I'm already planning on topping it... soon... So watch out world I'm not done. Not by far!

Xoxo,

12 Flight 7 Weeks: Reykjavik

Reykjavik was a perfect way to end my trip. Iceland has always been one of those countries that I thought to be totally unattainable because of it's odd location and the fact that it's expensive to get too. Thanks to the Icelandair Stopover it was super easy. So if you're on your way to Europe and you've always wanted to see Iceland book on Iceland air and you can have a layover for up to 7 nights without an extra charge. It was also the cheapest ticket i could find round trip to London. 

I got into Reykjavik  pretty late so I just found a place and kipped at the airport for the night. No trouble since you know of my airport obsession. I also had to wait to change in my $5o bill for Icelandic money. Because that was all the money i had left and turns out $27 of that went to my return bus ticket!!

 The next morning I was up early as fuck because I was meeting my couchsurfing host at 6:30 am at the bus station. It worked out perfect because he was getting off work and could pick me up there. 

The first bus into Reykjavik left at 6 and I was on that bad boy. Also I was the only person on the bus. But I made it in on time and easy peasy I was picked up and off to his house we went. Turns out it was dead city centre and it was so nice. I had my own room and there was heated floors and I passed right out for a nap. 

When I got up a few hours later I was chatting with my host and he had some volunteer work to do since he was part of the local search and rescue volunteer team. So it was perfect timing because I was ready to see the city!

The weather that first day was perfect and amazing! As you can see from the pictures!

Then that night we went in search of the northern lights. But first stop the most famous restaurant in Iceland... A hot dog stand. It was delish and cheap, perfect for my budget. Then a look out on the whole city!!

It looked like a little tiny christmas town and it was so pretty covered in snow.

Sadly I didn't get to see any northern lights. But that's okay I'll just have to go back some time. But it wasn't a wasted trip to the middle of no where. On the way out we stopped by the president's house. There is seriously 0 security. I could have walked right up to the door and knocked and guess what.... the president probably would have answered! How bizarre? Of course this launched me into a typical round of 100 questions. So it was a fact filled evening trying to see the northern lights.

Mornings were a crazy experience in Iceland because the sun rose really late so when I'd wake up at like 9 it looked like this....

So it made me want to sleep all day. But the second day when I woke up it was to this..

A blizzard! Apparently they aren't that common in Reykjavik. It was super nasty looking out and my host was leaving to go find a missing person and he offered me the key to the flat in case I wanted to go out... I did not. I opted to stay in and edit. 

Yes that is snow piled against the door on the right...

It was a warm coffee filled day. Then when he got back for the night he was like let's get ice cream.

Like what!? Isn't it too cold? Apparently not. It's what all the locals do. They LOVE ice cream. I can see why after having some. It was soooo good. While we were eating our ice cream we drove around city centre and stopped by a small thermal spring on the outskirts. It's apparently a place where the local kids go late at night.

This is where my adventure in Reykjavik began. So my host had his cousin coming in the night of my last night there and he said I was welcome to stay but I don't know why it made me feel insanely awkward to think of that. So I was like no biggy I'll just grab a hostel my last night. By the way a Hostel was not in the picture at all because at this point I had about $15 to get me through the next two days and Hostels started at $25. So I decided it was totally called for to once again indulge my airport loving spirit!!

So there was still a bit of a blizzard the next day. But I packed up left a nice good bye note and off I went to see more of the city. At one point i was convinced my nose and finger tips were forfeit. Even though I had two pairs of pants, a shirt, sweatshirt, heavy jacket, gloves, hat, and my Buff as a face cover. It's not like I was running around poorly clad. I was bundled up as fuck! And still I was freezing. So I stopped at Mokka for a coffee. I'd heard about this cafe on a PBS show actually, it's apparently really famous. So I blew $7 of my precious money on a coffee. IT was totally worth it!! 

Then I did a bit more walking around and I swear the weather was fickle because one minute it was snowy then 5 minutes later it was crisp and clear. My host had said that it's a joke in Iceland that if you hang around for 45 minutes you'll see all the weather in that time. It's true. Because that afternoon the weather flipped and flopped between nice to sort of nice to horrible to sunny and amazing. It was crazy. 

These pictures were all taken within 2 hours of each other....

The weather's fickleness was what caused me to turn up at the bus station that afternoon soaked and cold and drippy. But I caught one of the last buses out of Reykjavik, strangely enough the last bus would have been at 2:15pm because the buses only run according to departing flights. 

My Flight wasn't out till 5pm the next day. I got to Keflavík airport at 3pm on the 17th of December! I suddenly had 26 hours to kill at the airport and holy shit was I excited!! Like seriously over the moon. I spent a few more precious LSK on lunch, dinner, tomorrows breakfast and lunch and snacks....

For less then 500 LSK that food lasted me nicely on my airport adventure!!

And I know it sounds crazy and I don't think I can ever quite get people to see my side of loving airports. If you would like to try and maybe have a laugh at my airport antics last december you can read the blog I wrote while in the throws of sweet airport bliss!!!!! So read it HERE and have a laugh.

Welcome back. See I love airports! I might have a mental affliction... but whatever. I will always be like a kid at christmas when I have to catch a flight. I'll always arrive 3 hours early if I'm leaving from Newark or 4- 26 hours early if it's a flight from Europe! I will also enjoy sleeping in them whenever I can. Because despite what you might think there are some decently comfortable nitches if you look hard enough.

Okay Taylor enough! Stop with the airport obsession..... *deep breath* Okay so about 4 hours before my flight was to board I checked in and went through security. On the other side I spent a few more precious LSK on coffee. Exchange rate it was $2.50 for a refillable cup of coffee. I was doing some more editing and got so jacked on caffeine that i was a bundle of jitters when I boarded. 

Strangely being so jacked on caffeine made the Flight go by pleasantly. I watched afew movies then suddenly I was landing in the USA!!!

After a loooooooooooooong wait at border patrol and a few questions. And oddly enough this happen every time I reenter the USA the border agent looks at my passport and looks at me then asks me to smile. I'm barely even smiling in my passport photo.... Strange... maybe they all just inheriently know that i have a stunning smile. Any how out I go and there's my Mum and Dad! It's always nice coming home and seeing my family at the airport. 

And that brings my whirlwind adventures Europe to a close. Shortly I shall be posting a reflection post because I feel like this trip redefined my comfort zone and self opinion more then any trip before ever had. So stay tuned!

Cheers,

12 Flights 7 Weeks: London Round 4

London.... Again.... It's like I have an obsession with the place or something. Oh wait I totally do. It's a problem... NOT! London is too amazing to have a problem with
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My journey into city centre was a tough one. I was taking the bus in from Stansted. Got off at the wrong stop because I was 100% sure that the driver had said Baker's street. And I was 100% wrong. Turn out I was lucky enough that there was a tube stop right near by so i just hopped on the tube and made it to city centre.

So I met up with Richard. We ate Pizza for dinner and then it was bed time because it was late and i was tired as fuck! Plus we were getting up early to see London. I was promised a tour of places I had never seen... and Richard delivered!

We started with hiking up Primrose Hill....

Then we walked over to Camden Town.... 

And then took the over ground to Brick Lane.

We saw a lot of awesome street art

Before walking all the way back to our hostel. Which included a walk through the South Bank Christmas Market.

Plus my favourite place.... Trafalgar!!!!!

We also swung by Fortnum And Mason and I felt super swanky and British.

Then it was time to head off to the Airport! It was a bit exciting because I was off to Iceland!!

Cheers,

12 Flights 7 Weeks: Bucharest

From Barcelona and the horribleness of a delayed flight I finally made it to Bucharest!! It was really freaking early when I arrived (like 1am early). So i grabbed a coffee and hunkered down in a comfy booth at the coffee shop in the airport. I watched Black Hawk Down on my ipod then did some updating of my travel journal then decided that 8am was the perfect time to go into city centre and find my hostel.

I got off the bus and got insanely lost on the way to my hostel. But then i found it... turns out the only reason I got lost was because i went left  instead of right. Oops. But all that counts is that i found my Hostel and it was so damn cute! Not to mention the view!!!

A photo posted by Taylor (@tayvang) on Dec 13, 2014 at 1:15am PST

Come on how swanky! That's the national bank by the way. Any how Little Bucharest Hostel comes highly recommended by me because it was perfectly located and the cleanest hostel i have ever stayed in. Not to mention the staff is amazing and nice.  

Now Bucharest was an insanely cheap stop because I didn't have an atm card and I couldn't take out a lot of cash on my credit card. So I had $50 for my five days in Romania. $32 went to my Hostel. $10 to my return ticket to the airport. Food and fun were to be in short supply. I spent about $3 on food the whole trip. I ate my protein bars and had pretzels and even managed to go shopping so i could make myself some pasta and meatballs! 

It really wasn't as bad as it sounds. Bucharest was actually my favourite stop of the whole trip! 

Even though some of the city is totally dilapidated...

The new bits are still nice...

And it's a wonderful juxtaposition of old and new. 

Plus this house is there.

And I don't know why I love it but I totally do. It's amazing and old.

I can't forget to mention the Christmas Market!!!!!

I did a lot of walking and site seeing....

 Parcul Herastrau::

Parliament::

And I made some great friends. This is sad to admit but I met and American guy who worked at the hostel and we ended up hanging out the whole night drinking whiskey. I drank away the rest of my Romania budget but well there are worse things in life then good stories. It was a blast!

I also got up to a lot of editing. 

Coffee. Check. Post-its. Check. Pens. Check. Paper. Check. Time to finish the Christmas chapters! #ifancymyselfawriter #writingonthego

A photo posted by Taylor (@tayvang) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:49am PST

By this point my book was pretty iron clad so I was just reworking all my favourite scenes so they were super good.

My last day I walked down to the cemetery. You're not aloud to take pictures in it but if you have time to get down to the Bellu Cemetery then you should. There are some incredibly intricate moratoriums. Plus you can walk through Carol Park. And there is a really cool war monument there.

I caught my flight out to London that afternoon. It was sad to leave Bucharest. I wanted to stay longer. But I'll get back there someday. Besides I had plans to meet up with Richard (my Bath host) in London for the two days that I'd be there. Plus my trip was winding down and I was looking forward to going home.

Cheers,